Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-08-20

else us right 10 select the land at the
earliest possible moment, and your letter to
the honorable Secretary of the Interior,
even before the completion of the first sec
ton, urging the completion of the survey,
is indisputable evidence of the very earliest
disposition of your company in the prem
lses. Whatever may have been the mo-
i've. however, in influencing the enactment
OF the provision above referred to, it is I'M
equivocally provided in the terms of the
granting Act that the time of payment OF
the costs of surveying, selecting and con-
veyiDg the land should be condition pre-
cedent to the receipt of record title, and
that the time of such payment and the for
mutation of lists of selections should be left
to the election of the company, or, to re-
peat the language of the Act, should be
paid as the company should require the
title" In seeking for an Interpretation of
these words, there is no ambiguity of Ian
guage which leaves doubt as to their mean
ing. The cost of surveying, selecting and
conveying the land, and the issue of pat
ents to follow the payment of such costs
and selections were not made referable to
or dependent upon the exigencies of State,
county or municipal government, but was
relegated solely to the company itself.
Notwithstanding, however, the absence of
all legal requirements as to the time when
the company should apply for and receive
title to the lands granted, it from the first
inaugurated the policy of paying the costs
required by law, of acquiring at the earliest
practicable moment record of evidence of
title, and Of promoting by every means in
Its power the settlement of the country
through which its roads passed. As al
ready indicated, the right of the company
to acquire title did not mature until the
various sections of the road had been ex-
amlned and reported upon by the Commits
sioners appointed by the President of the
United States, and the road accepted by the
President, in pursuance of the recon-
mendations contained in the report of such
Commissioners. The date at which tn
road was finally accepted is indicated by a
letter from the Department Of the Interior
to the Commissioner of the General Land
Office. dated at Washington, November 3,
1863, In which the Honorable Secretary in.
forms the Commissioners that the road has
been accepted. Early in the year 1869 the
Department of the Interior ordered an alb
solute suspension Of the issuance of patents.
as the following letter will show:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.
WASHINGTON ID. c., March 90, 1869 I
SIR You will withhold all action toward the
issue OF patents of lands to the Central Pacific
Railroad Company of California and the West
ern Pacific Railroad Company until further ad-
vice from this Department. Very Respectfully.
your 93edient servant, J. D. Cox, Secretary.
To Hon. Joseph 5. Wilson Commissioner of
the General Land Office.
This suspension of patents placed an alb
solute embargo upon transactions under
that head, an embargo which was not re-
moved until March 26, 1870, period of one
years and four days. However, on the Sd
day OF November, the Honorable Secretary
OF the Interior addressed the following let
ter OF Hon. Joseph S. Wilson, Commits
sioner of the General Land Office:
DEPARTMENT OF THE Int
WASHINGTON %. c.. November 3, 1869 /
pI PIE; me commission to examine the Union
Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads having re-
ported, and its report having been accepted and
made the basis of adjustment of the accounts
between the United States and said railroad
companies, you are hereby authorized to
commence the patenting of such lands to the
SAID companies under grants made by Congress
as follows: In addition to the bonds retained
by the United States as security for the compile
ton of said roads in the matters reported def
Gent or not up to the standard by the said Com
mission, one-half of the lands ready for patent
ing 70 lhe tnlon Pacihc will have patents sus-
pended until further direction from the Depart
ment. The other half may be patented to said
company as fast as surveys and other prelimi-
narles are completed-that is to say, beginning
at Omaha and running westward-sections l. s.
9, ETC., win be patented, there being no valid
claim found and sections 8, z, etc. will be with
held until further directions, as above stated
Patents TO the Central Pacific Railroad NAV in
like manner, issue. beginning at Sacramento
and working eastward. 1t is my desire that the
work be SO systematiZed that it may be pushed
forward as rapidly as possible. Very respect
FULLY, your obedient servant, (Signed)
]. ID. Cox, Secretary.
Hon. Joseph S. Wilson, Commissioner of the
General Land Office.
Under the instructions contained in the
foregoing, lists of selections were made.
Some of these failed to observe the instruc-
tions of the Secretary of the Interior, to
omit one-half OF the land in any town.
ship from the listof any selections made.
These lists having reached the Department
OF the Interior, the honorable Secretary, J.
D. Cox, under date of March 8. 1870, in a
letter addressed to the honorable Commits
sioner of the General Land Office, says:
Under date of the Sd of November last
you were directed to prepare for patentlng
one-half of the lands inuring to said COM
pany, namely Sections 1, 5, 8, etc., and
sections 3, 7, ETC., should be withheld |
find that the lands thus to be withheld are
in this list, therefore return the list, that a
new one may be prepared emitting those
sections that are to be withheld from pat
enting"
Mr.. Beard, attorney for the company at
Washington, urged the issue of patents for
the list, which embraced 10000 acres, and
IN letter addressed to Hon. Joseph S.
Wilson used the following language:
In view of the fact that there has been
patented heretofore to the company only
1865 acres out of 100000 acres, the
surveys of odd-numbered sections along
the 100 miles of road in California, in five
years, this course appears to be just"
Herein your attorney at Washington on
the 10Th day of March, 1870, was forced to
fn1n ad tbac oil L..
patented in the Central Pacific grant as an
argument in favor of the issue of further
patents.
1t is plain from this plea of your attorney
that there existed a strong desire on the
part of the Government to withhold patents
from the company, and an equally strong
desire on the part of the company to urge
the patenting of its land as rapidly as that
process could be achieved.
Certified copies of all the letters above
set forth from the Interior Department at
Washington are in possession of the land
department of your company, to be ex-
hibited when called for.
The road was, however, not finally ac-
cepted until late in the year 1874. The
Commissioners appointed to make the final
examination were Eugene L. Sullivan.
Calvin Brown and J. w. Dwyer, and the
report of these Commissioners is dated
Ogden, Utah, November ., 1874 This re-
port was certified by G. Delano, Secretary
of the Interior, to the President, under
date of the 18th of November 1874; and
at that date it may be said that the road
was finally accepted. The time, then. at
which the right to receive patents for lands
granted may be placed approximately at
January l. 1875, at which date the company
had applied for 304 1876 3S acres, and had
received patents for 271, 1855 acres.
AT the very outset the adjustment of the
grant to the Central Pacific Railroad was
beset with difficulties and embarrassments
unknown to the eastern division of the
line connecting the Missouri river with the
Pacific Ocean. The lands were not granted
in specific sections. The sections could be
identified only after the map of definite
location of the line hsd been filed with the
Secretary of the Interior. The limits of
the grant could then be delineated. Lands
in the odd-numbered sections within such
limits were granted by categories only.
Lands in certain other categories or rela-
ton with respect of the title of the Gov
eminent were excepted, and, among the
latter, mineral land was mentioned as an
exception. The line of road from Sacra-
mento eastward intersects at right angles
the great mineral belt ON the western TANKS
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. and rules
OF practice in the General Land Office had
TO be established whereby the mineral or